How Fine Artist Sam Ryan Went Viral & Doubled His Monthly Revenue

What do Joe Rogan, Morgan Freeman, and Tulsi Gabbard all have in common?

They all shared artwork created by Sam Ryan on their social media handles.

SamRyanStudio Newsletter is a newsletter Sam Ryan uses to engage with his audience, share his artwork, and drive sales.

We recently sat down with Sam Ryan, otherwise known as “The Wolf of Art Street®,” to discuss his approach to building a successful fine art business from the ground up. Sam was happy to share how he was able to break through the barriers as a new artist by leveraging Instagram and how he doubled his revenue in 2 months after launching his newsletter on beehiiv.

Sam’s Backstory: Breaking the Starving Artist Stigma

Sam’s journey as an artist begins in a small town of 3,000 people in Mississippi. While Sam had spent years drawing as a fine artist, he decided to cross over into painting as he saw there was real potential in earning an income.

“My name's Sam Ryan. I'm from a small town called Gluckstadt, Mississippi, right outside of Madison, Mississippi. About two and a half years ago, I picked up a paintbrush. I needed to pay for summer classes. I knew I could draw and I switched over to painting because I saw you could sell paintings for a little more.”

“I used to draw about three to four years ago and sell a few pieces every other month. But it's been consistent for about two years, selling paintings every week, doing print drops, and selling cheaper versions of my artwork every so often.”

Like many artists trying to make a name for themselves—or at the very least, make a living—Sam was faced with a barrage of skeptics. He was often met with unbelievers trying to pull him back into reality.

“I've had people tell me I couldn't be a full-time artist. Everybody's heard this: ‘You gotta get a real job and you need your benefits. You're not going to be able to afford healthcare,’ and all types of stuff.”

But, Sam decided to ignore the noise and instead lean into his craft. By sharing his progress on Instagram, he was able to accrue a six-figure following.

“I think owning your own business really brings you a lot of freedom to branch out and make your own time. Make your own way.”

“I finally got my style and my prices up over the past two years while I became a full-time artist—like a full business. I didn't go to nursing school. I went straight into creating my Instagram account a year and a half ago. It blew up and got to 120,000 followers.”

The Modern Artist Is a Tech Solopreneur

While many believe it’s nearly impossible to “make it” as a fine artist today, Sam tends to think otherwise. By leaning on his tech stack of beehiiv, Instagram, and Shopify, Sam is able to run his art business 100% on his own and keep costs low.

“I'm the manager, the CEO, the creator. I'm not hiring anybody else to help me produce pieces. Right now it's a one-person business model.”

“I make sure I make all my posts in a week on all my social media. I write my newsletter on Thursday and put it out Friday every week. I have a Shopify store and have a little chat box there. People will ask me questions and I’ll answer them. It's been steadily rolling. It’s bringing me enough income where I can put away 80% of it and just live off the 20%.”

Going Viral: Shared by Joe Rogan & Morgan Freeman

Sam’s artwork started really taking off. And, so did his Instagram.

He shared, “My main social media—Instagram—is basically a log of what I've been doing for the past year. You know—a reel, a picture-a-day, something like that. A lot of processed videos. People like to see how I make my portraits and I paint usually iconic figures like Abe Lincoln, JFK, and famous women.”

His unique art style—large portraits of media icons painted in acrylic or charcoal-acrylic—has created quite a buzz in the online world. So much so that he even started gaining the attention of the prominent figures he was painting.

“Damar Hamlin—I just recently reached out to him and shipped my painting to him. I knew he was a big collector of art, so I got that to him basically when I started my Instagram.”

“A year and a half ago, my first viral video went to Joe Rogan and he saw it and reposted it for me. So I made a portrait—abstract style—of Joe Rogan with ‘BE THE HERO OF YOUR OWN MOVIE,’ etched in on it. He loved it so much. He reposted it and asked me if he could repost it and said, ‘Thank you,’ and all that.”

The virality didn’t stop there. Renowned movie stars and political figures have also fueled Sam’s social media growth, and in turn, his business.

“Then, Morgan Freeman reposted one of my paintings. Tulsi Gabbard—we did a reel collab on a few pieces. I kind of got connected to all these famous or just high-value people and it's helped me start my business and actually do what I want to do.”

From Instagram to beehiiv: Launching the Newsletter

While Sam started reaping the benefits from his explosive Instagram growth and his art business was taking off, he knew he wouldn’t be able to rely fully on Instagram forever. Soon enough, his Instagram growth and engagement seemed to slow down a bit.

“I saw my engagement start to drop. So I was looking for other ways to reach my current followers and not just my mom's friends and stuff that don't see my posts every time I put them out. I was looking around for different companies and I discovered beehiiv from Codie Sanchez on her YouTube video. And I thought I could do that.”

“I've never been good at writing. I was looking at examples of newsletters and they're really short—two to three-minute reads. You can add GIFs and pictures and everything.

Since I'm a visual artist, I thought it'd fit perfectly in the format. I started using beehiiv as a way to engage with my top fans and top buyers that come back every time.”

“Each newsletter would be different, but it basically recaps what I did that week in my art journey. I'll have ideas, new paintings, and new projects.”

Using Insights from beehiiv’s Polls to Optimize Art & Content

Despite Sam’s little experience as a writer—let alone newsletter publisher—he was able to leverage his newsletter to improve his content and artwork.

One of Sam’s favorite beehiiv features is the integrated polls…